Beaumont judge to hear judicial ballot lawsuits

Updated 10:30 pm, Thursday, January 23, 2014

Three lawsuits over alleged ballot irregularities involving Harris County judicial candidates will be heard by a Beaumont judge, officials said Thursday.

State District Judge Bob Wortham was appointed to preside over the cases a day after the Harris County Attorney's Office said it is reviewing documents filed by all local judicial candidates.

"We have a reasonable suspicion there are several instances that we need to look into," said Terry O'Rourke, special assistant to County Attorney Vince Ryan.

Disputed candidacy

O'Rourke and other officials appeared in a Harris County court Thursday for a hearing on a temporary restraining order request by longtime Precinct 2 Place 2 Justice of the Peace George Risner.

Risner, a Democrat first elected to his post in 1987, is suing the Harris County Republican Party, claiming it violated state election law by placing candidate Leonila Olivares-Salazar on its party ballot even after being told her application included hundreds of falsified petition signatures.

Risner and Olivares-Salazar are running unopposed in their parties' respective primaries, meaning they would face each other in the November general election.

Harris County GOP chair Jared Woodfill said the party was not made aware of the allegations until after the five-day window to investigate inaccuracies that followed the Dec. 9 filing deadline.

Instead of ruling on Risner's request for a restraining order to stop the county from printing or mailing any more ballots, including absentee ballots, for the March 4 primary, state District Judge Randy Wilson said it would be more appropriate for a judge from outside Harris County.

"This could affect a lot of judges here," Wilson said. "I'm a candidate on that ballot."

More races in question

He noted that Risner's case is similar to two other recently filed cases involving Republicans and Democrats in judicial races and said administrative Judge Olen Underwood would assign the cases, including the hearing that had been scheduled for Thursday, to Wortham.

Wortham is expected to have a hearing on Risner's request for a temporary restraining order on Tuesday.

Wortham also will oversee the other two cases. One involves possible candidate Chris Branson suing the Republican Party after his paperwork to be placed on the primary ballot was rejected. He is attempting to unseat incumbent juvenile Judge John Phillips, who presides over the state's 314th District Court.

In the other lawsuit, Democrat Julia Maldonado wants her primary opponent for the 246th Family Court, Sandra Williams Peake, taken off of the March 4 ballot. Maldonado is alleging that Peake did not turn in enough valid signatures to be an eligible candidate.